CONGRATULATIONS MANNY PACQUIAO! I couldn’t help posting this video on my Blog to honor an incredible man who continues to bring pride and honor to the Philippines and to the Filipinos.  His name is Manny Pacquiao.  Manny certainly came from very humble beginnings but that didn’t stop him from being one of the best boxers the Boxing World has ever known!

Here’s a video of his most recent boxing match vs. Ricky Hatton, tonight in Las Vegas, NV.  From the title of this entry, I believe you already know who won….

If you are a boxing afficionado, you might also enjoy this HBO Video Exclusive which featured both Pacquiao and Hatton before today’s fight:

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The Kentucky Derby is always a big deal for the Tiebens Family. My husband Gary was born and raised in Louisville, KY and we’ve always loved Jockey Gary Stevens.  Today, it’s all about Calvin Borel – “ANOTHER COMMON MAN WHO RODE TO GREATNESS”!

Today, with the win of a Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird, it brought to mind how his win is a symbol of HOPE for the underdog…the underdog being his horse Mine That Bird. 

Below is this amazingly inspirational video of his win!  Pay attention to his amazing heart warming interview when he gave all the honor to his parents whom he wished were still here to see his win!

Also, make sure to read the article I posted below courtesy of  Jerry Izenberg/The Star Ledger ( www.nj.com ) .  I hope this will inspire you to understand that SUCCESS IS INDEED A CHOICE!

Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel had 

no doubt long shot Mine That Bird could pull it off

by Jerry Izenberg/The Star-Ledger 

Saturday May 02, 2009, 9:03 PM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It began the way it always does — with the thump of horseflesh against horseflesh in a field so crowded, the wonder is that somebody didn’t bounce all the way to Cincinnati. Dunkirk, a hot wise-guy horse, stumbled, and elsewhere Mine That Bird, a colt nobody was even thinking about, had to fight a pair of horses for simple living space.Calvin Borel, up on Mine That Bird, did what he has always done here at Churchill Downs. He grabbed hold, steered clear and headed for his office.

There are no markers … no traffic cones to delineate the footprint of his office. At its widest point, it is approximately 5 or 6 feet from the rail here at Churchill Downs. It is to Calvin what the 6 inches next to home plate were for pitchers like Don Drysdale or Early Wynn, or what the middle of the field just behind the down linemen was for Lawrence Taylor.

Here at this racetrack, the clockers and the grooms and the trainers know it is a fact of life that the rail belongs to Calvin.

It doesn’t matter what the purse, what the distance, what the time of year … whether it’s a $5,000 claimer or the Kentucky Derby. When Calvin puts the lock on his office door, the race is over.

Saturday it just took him a little longer.

In Mine That Bird’s last out, he did well to get fourth at a New Mexico racetrack called Sunland Park. The race wasn’t even a graded one. Afterward his trainer, Bennie Woolley, a one-time rodeo bareback rider who lost by more than the traditional eight-count to a nasty horse, found himself twisted until he looked like a pretzel, and in that instant he became a trainer of race horses.

Nobody gave this horse a chance to win the Derby.

Nobody except Calvin.

Calvin does not scheme. Calvin does not evaluate. What Calvin does is ride anything you put him up on for all it’s worth until he runs out of racetrack.

So in less time than it takes to read this, Calvin put a hold on his colt and wheeled him into the office. And then, in his own good time, he took the horse from dead last in a field of 20 to the head of the class … took him through the toughest traffic thoroughbred racing has to offer anywhere in the world.

“I really didn’t come here with a great conviction that we could win,” Woolley said. But nobody really asked Calvin.

You cannot discount the work ethic of a jockey who came to Churchill as a kid from the Louisiana Cajun country … a guy who still mucks stalls and exercises mounts in the morning … a guy who began racing in bush-track quarterhorse match races at age 7 and graduated to thoroughbreds at tiny Evangeline Downs and was the kind of hell-for-leather jock that knew horses as well as the technique of riding them.

As romantics like to say, “The old songs are the best,” and Calvin Borel doesn’t simply know this song. He wrote words and music and performed it over and over again in his office. He has won races from the rail so many times that, along the backstretch, everyone from groom to hot walker to exercise rider calls him “Calvin Bo-Rail.”

So Saturday they came banging out of the gate and there was, as usual, the battle for running room — a battle that often determines the winner and at least a few losers before they get through the first turn.

Calvin did not panic. Calvin knows every pebble, every hump and every inch of this racing strip. It didn’t matter that the rain had left the track what jockeys like to call “wet fast.” He had the horse and the hands and a rapport with his colt that bordered on the occult. He immediately transformed the wish into the deed and angled a sharp turn over toward the rail, bringing Mine That Bird directly into Calvin’s Alley.

At first look, it is difficult to see the logic in this. Yes, it kept him out of trouble, but, conversely, it left him with 18 horses to pass. But the lessons of the Bayou country where he learned to hold horseflesh together as a kid in short pants were not lost.

Calvin was in no hurry. Experience whispered in his inner ear and reminded him of that. So while the rest of world looked for the favorites up front, Calvin let his colt run easily — unnoticed by the others and unidentified by the track announcer.

Then Calvin began to ask the question that horses can answer only when rider and animal share that unspoken, almost telepathic sense of communication. It was in that instant that Calvin guided him to a position where he could traverse the dimensions of Calvin’s Alley — that comfortable old shoe of a lane were Calvin had taken so many other horses along the circuit that runs from Kentucky to Arkansas to Louisiana.

This is a race where the faint of heart and the jockey with bad judgment disappear at the head of the stretch … where those who come at the leaders often must deal with other tired horses coming back at them.

But Calvin did not look for more running room — not yet. He did not venture outside of Calvin’s Alley — at least not yet. Up ahead, there were two horses blocking his path. They were side by side. The distance between them appeared to be tighter than a gnat’s eyelash.

“No,” Calvin said after they draped the roses across his colt, “there was more room than you could see. There was sure room enough.”

Calvin knows as much about calculating running room as he does about measuring the open area alongside the rail. “Plenty of room,” he said.

“You know you’re in it to win it, and I got a hole so I took a shot. He has a small horse,” he deadpanned, so it wasn’t a big thing. “It’s not the first mile that decides it. It’s the last one.”

The move triggered a Niagara roar in 1979.

Calvin matched it with a sound all his own as he pointed to where he believed his fiancee was standing. “I won the Derby,” he shouted and smacked the horse with an affectionate open palm. “I won the Derby, Derby, Derby … ” and then his words trailed off.

But Calvin isn’t showy.

Hell, it was just another day at the office.

 

 

 

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My heart is so overjoyed right now!  I am in such awe of God’s wondrous love!

Two weeks ago, Gary and I decided that we were going to sell one of our investment properties – a beautiful condominium unit in Laguna Niguel, CA.  We are at a stage right now where we are experiencing a “correction” and re-direction of our financial goals and it was best to simplify our lives and be able to really PROSPER WHERE WE’RE PLANTED ( a lesson we learned the hard way) and continue with our War On Debt, which Dani Johnson, Joyce Meyer and Dave Ramsey all have taught us.

We have wonderful tenants in that property and what was really sad for us was to see them have to move.  However, we wanted to be obedient to the strong leading to sell that property so we contacted our trusted realtor friend and 2 days ago, that property was finally listed as For Sale.

Gary’s initial concern to our decision was that the property might sit in the market for months and that the listing would go stale and we might have to be dealing with low ball offers.  That day, I read to Him the promises on the Book of Deuteronomy and we as a family believed that all things do work together for good!

We had peace in accepting that the sale of this condo was part of God’s bigger plan and if that was the case, He would go before us and pave the way for an effortless sale.  That if we walk by faith and not by sight, that God will open doors that no one can shut and close doors that no one can open.  I knew in my heart that by not letting fear get the best of us and by being obedient, that we will sell that condo at the perfect time – not one day late, not one day early.

Today, is the day that miracle happened.  After the property has been listed for ONLY 2 days, Gary called me and said, “Honey, I have good news,  a better news and an even better news!”  I knew it had something to do with the condo sale.  He said “THE REALTOR CALLED AND SAID WE GOT AN OFFER AND THE BUYERS ARE WILLING TO PUT 50% DOWN AND THEY WANT A 15 DAY ESCROW AND THEY WANT OUR TENANTS TO STAY!”

I don’t know about you but to me, that is one GIANT FUNNEL OF FAVOR FROM GOD!  After I hung up from Gary, I got down on my hands and knees and wept to God in utmost and inexplicable GRATITUDE!  Every day, we have miracles upon miracles happening in our lives but what happened today was beyond anything we ever expected and I am speechless but my spirit rejoices!

Why am I sharing this?  Because I believe that if you’re reading this, we have somewhat made a connection either on Facebook, Twitter or our mutual social media sites, and to really connect and build true relationships with people, I believe in transparency.  

More importantly, it’s because I am all about HOPE – I am a messenger of hope!  I know that if there is one person who will read this post and get encouraged by it, then I have paid this miracle forward and have given credit to whom credit is due!

In this time of uncertainty for most people, my family made a decision that we will pray for an extra heap of courage and wisdom so that we will not fear and will have our eyes fixed on the Lord…

It is my prayer for all of you who are faced with doubt and fear that you will find that peaceful place where you can truly believe to receive daily miracles. 

That every day, regardless of your situation, you will learn to say over and over what I learned from Joyce Meyer: “Something good is going to happen to me today and I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for me!”

WE HAVE MADE A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO SQUISH THE FEAR AND FEED OUR FAITH!  I pray that this article will somewhat help encourage and remind you to do the same!

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Today, I decided to take a break and take my husband for a “mini-getaway”. This is his first time at The Beachcomber Cafe in Crystal Cove/Newport Beach, CA. We had so much fun we wanted to share this video to give you a glimpse of this “slice of heaven”! Enjoy!

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A new year…a fresh start…new resolutions…new hope… The question is, how long will it take for us to rejoice in this cyclical yet renewed optimism? Perhaps one month, two, maybe three months before we go back to what’s comfortable and familiar? So, the million dollar question is this…HOW DO YOU PLAN TO RENEW YOURSELF FOR THE NEW YEAR? 360 days from now, how are you going to be different?

At church this morning, I couldn’t help take down notes… our beloved Senior Pastor Dan Deghi shared some incredibly insightful words of wisdom that I know will resonate with everyone both believers and non-believers. He said 3 NEW things that will be for certain in 2009 are this:

• New Pressures
• New Problems
• New Possibilities

To progress, change is necessary and one’s openness and willingness to change are a must! As successful people would say “If you keep on doing the same things you’ve done, you’ll keep on getting the same things you’ve gotten”.

The great news is that new pressures and problems cause new possibilities to stem forth! These very certainties are here to ultimately build character – as one responds to these with the right mind and heart, they will build 3 things:

• Conviction
• Creativity
• Courage

Where are you lacking? Is it conviction, creativity or courage? The winds of life will always flow to the direction it needs to go and while you can’t control the direction of the wind, YOUR ATTITUDES CAN CONTROL THE DIRECTION OF YOUR SAIL! This year, make it a point to stand for something of significance…how can you shine if you are comfortable hiding in the dark? How can you enlighten another person’s life by keeping your light to yourself? Are you happy with how your Year 2008 was? Were you happy with your harvest? FYI, your harvest is a direct result of what you planted – the universal Law of Reaping and Sowing.

A great question to ask yourself now is “WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO HARVEST IN 2009?” Once you answer that question, you will know exactly what seeds you need to be planting now! You want to see the same results? Do the same exact thing you did in 2008? You want to see a different result? Turn the TV off, write down your goals – with “accomplished by” dates on them of course – identify your convictions, take a leap of faith and believe that this year will be different!

And oh, don’t mistake opinion with conviction – there are already plenty of opinions out there that will confuse you and cause you to not plow that ground and plant the seed! How would you know the difference between opinion and conviction? “YOU WILL ARGUE FOR AN OPINION BUT YOU’LL BE WILLING TO DIE FOR YOUR CONVICTION!” There is a big difference… If you don’t stand up for something you will fall for anything!

What are you made of? Opinions or Convictions? Please share! You never know who’s life would be greatly impacted by them! It could very well be your own.

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